


Setting The Bar Higher

by Wanheda88



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, The 100 Femslash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 21:27:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10795083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wanheda88/pseuds/Wanheda88
Summary: [WRITTEN IN FIRST PERSON] A newcomer is in town hoping to better her career in the medical field, attending college while juggling a waitressing job. Along with her childhood friend with a prosthetic leg, they decide to venture into a new fitness facility. Clarke Griffin suddenly can't help but catch the eyes of a very attractive fitness trainer that is high in demand. What are the odds that she is chosen personally to be one of her clients?





	Setting The Bar Higher

It was hard to wake up that morning. Who in the world studies for sixteen hours straight without taking a single break in between? Well, that my friend, is me. I’m what you would call a very ambitious young woman who goes by the name of Dr. Clarke Griffin. Well, okay. I’m not a doctor yet, but that’s beside the point. Rolling over slightly, I was feeling like I got ran over by a Mack truck and the first thing I see when I flutter my eyes open had been the light notification from my cell phone. A text this early in the morning? Can it wait? 

“Raven.” I see the name clearly on the screen and she mentioned something about going to a new gym. I groan. Exercise was the last thing on my mind. It was bad enough that I was beginning to lose sleep but Raven was one of my best friends and she was adamant about forcing me to get out of the house especially since I didn't know anyone else other than her around here. Maybe if I ignore it, I can pretend I didn’t see it? No. That would be rude. Giving up on it, I reached over, grabbed my cell and opened it up seeing a large text from her. I swear, sometimes it was like reading a novel when that girl texts me. 

Quickly, I scan the text and decide it would be easier to just simply call. I struggle to get out of bed as I situate the phone between my shoulder and ear. There had been nothing but a dial tone. Typical, Raven Reyes. I tried a few more times until I finally got the familiar voice on the other end of the receiver. At this time, I had already decided to go through with it and slid into a pair of yoga pants and a cute tank top of some variety that matched. 

“About time." Even Raven could tell I was slightly annoyed. “Couldn’t you have just called me to explain all of that?”

“Hey! I tried. You were still sleeping I guess,” Raven contested “You ready to go to that gym? They have a juice bar!”

“You know I despise working out. I still have to study for my exam next week.” I try to get out of it one last time, but it sounded like Raven was dead set on going. It was only 6:00 AM and the rest of the day had been waiting for me. A defeated sigh escaped my lips and I could feel my body already starting to rebel against myself as if it knew what was about to happen. “There might be eye candy there,” Raven said in a sing-song tone. I felt like I was being baited into it for just that reason, but after I had broken up with Bellamy last year, there was hardly enough time for a relationship again. “I’m not going there to shop, Raven.”

She was giggling on the other end and knew whether or not if that was what had convinced me, Raven had won. Her persuasiveness never failed. She could make you eat chocolate covered shit if she said it has wonderful health benefits all because the chocolate was dark and not milk chocolate. Ever since her accident she had been really persistent about keeping healthy. “Meet me out front in thirty! Be ready to work it, woman!” She hung up without me giving a word in edgewise. Shaking my head, I decided to pack the gym bag I received last Christmas from my mother. She thought a new healthy routine would do me good or something, but I hadn’t used it once. The thought alone made me feel a little guilty.

Extra clothes and shoes? Check. Shampoo and soap? Check. Towel? Check.

Raven said there had been a juice bar there. It was hard enough that I didn’t have a decent paying job, but I always managed somehow. It was no cake walk earning $2 an hour as a waitress in this small farming town smack dab in the middle of Alexandria, Virginia. I was ready with ten minutes to spare so I quickly downed a protein bar for breakfast. What would I give for a stack of pancakes from iHOP.

Eventually, Raven pulled up in in her vehicle just in time. “So, what is this place called?” I ask hesitantly before settling myself into the passenger seat. Glancing out the windshield, I realize the sun was just starting to come over the treeline in the distance. I could be sleeping still, but here I am. Let’s get this over with. “Polaris Fitness,” said Raven. Polaris Fitness. On the way home from work, I remember hearing ads on the radio for this place and that you could join for little as $20 a month after initial sign ups. It seemed fairly decent and there was a lot more they offered than just a juice bar. 

Plus, it wasn’t far away. It was very convenient at ten mile drive. I could easily hop on the interstate right after work and head over if I really feel like it or to just blow off some steam. “Alright then, let’s see what this place is about.” I close the door and before long we were jamming to some of our favorite music, trying to get energized for who knew what I was getting myself into. It didn’t take that long to be honest. The drive was fair and the weather conditions had been nice. We stepped out of the vehicle and I looked at the large yellow and purple sign that was hanging outside the building. It had large panel windows and you could hear their sound system before you walked in.

“So far so good,” Raven said as she locked the car up tight. I made sure I had everything as we walked in. You were supposed to have a card of some sort when you walked in if you were a member. Raven seemed to have already got that sorted as I peaked over and saw what looked like a certain type of card for certain members. “She’s my guest,” said Raven as she threw a thumb in my direction. The employee smiled and told me I needed to sign a waiver of some sort and I obliged without a worry or fear that something could happen. “Enjoy your workout, ladies!” The boy said and we both smiled and nodded, continuing on our way.

I had to admit, the gym was impressive. It had high ceilings, two extremely large fans above to keep the place cool inside and machines lining every corner of the room from treadmills and ellipticals to bench presses and arm as well as leg machines. It was almost overwhelming to her. “I’m going to go tan. You think you’ll be alright by yourself out here? I can go throw your gym bag in my locker until we’re done.” Raven said as she moved in the direction of a sales counter with her membership card. 

“Yeah.” My tone was tentative and soft. My eyes lazily gazed around the large room, focusing on a few of the members over by the dumbbells. There had been a woman standing there helping out another with some sort of exercise I’ve never seen before. It looked bizarre and they were doing it so quickly, my eyes could barely keep up so they settled on their fitness trainer who was quite attractive. _No. Remember, you’re not here for eye candy_. What I needed to do was stop looking at her arms. Her shoulders. Her back. Those muscles were killing me internally. Averting my eyes elsewhere, I focused back on Raven’s question when I realized I had left her standing there waiting for a moment. Did she realize I was watching the extremely fit woman standing across the room?

“I think I’m just going to go and walk on the treadmill for starters.” Raven smiled and attempted to make a lighthearted joke about how mundane that sort of exercise was or something, but I simply held a hand up to stop her. “Later,” I said after handing over my gym bag. With my cell phone in hand and earbuds comfortably placed where they should be, I managed to make way to the back of the room to one of the treadmills. It wasn’t so bad. I took a swig of water, stepping up on the belt and made sure that my favorite TV show had been on. It was always better when you had something to watch other than a gorgeous woman across the room. Any distraction was helpful though to get through this hell.

After about fifteen minutes into it, I decided to raise the incline and speed. 2.5 should be okay. My eyes flicker up to my cell phone screen to see what I had missed, but I catch a sight of brunette hair swooshing by in front of me. I felt my heart leap into my chest when the same woman I was staring at before actually acknowledged my existence. “Enjoying your workout?” she asked. I couldn’t hardly hear her with the racket going on in my ears and could only see her mouth move. “What? I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.” I pulled a bud out of one ear and she repeated the question. “Oh, yeah. Having the time of my life.” 

There was heavy sarcasm in my tone and the woman only smiled and laughed at my apparent misery. Man, she has a cute smile and her laugh was contagious. I couldn’t help but chuckle, feeling kind of dumb that I said something along those lines. “Well, I’ll let you get back at it.” She said as she tapped the railing of the treadmill. “If you need anything let me know. My name is Lexa.” Why can’t I stop these butterflies from swarming around in my stomach? Actually, they felt like a colony of bats panicking after being shook awake. 

“C-Clarke.”

I could barely return my own introduction and felt foolish. It was like that moment in your teen life where you get to finally talk to your high school crush, but you made it sound like you’re speaking in a different language. I was hypnotized as Lexa turned and walked away, heading to the bathroom. Well, that had been an interesting encounter. I suppose shameless flirting was acceptable even if there was no way of telling if Lexa had played for the gay team. Maybe I should watch out for any peculiar signs. Not going to lie, it was weird when I realized I enjoyed the company of women in bed. 

This was before I had been in a relationship with Bellamy for almost three years until he cheated on me with another woman. Men. I could honestly do without their drama. When I looked down at the treadmill dash, I realized almost thirty minutes have rolled by. Realizing this, my eyes searched the room for Raven and I saw the crazy girl moving fluidly from one weight machine to the other. How did Raven make it look so easy even with one leg? I turned my attention back on my TV show, sighing deeply when I registered that I missed half of it already. Oh well. The dangling earbud down below my neck caught my attention and I quickly lodged it into my ear and tried to get lost in my show.

It was some dumb cartoon comedy that everyone normally watched on weeknights. It had played several times, but I couldn’t get enough of these character’s stupid antics. I only had about twenty minutes left and I decided to pick it up a notch and went into a sprint at a 4 speed. I could tell that my calves will be hurting later. Tomorrow I would have to go back into work and stand on these suckers for eight solid hours. Fuck. I really need a new job. Waitressing is nice and all sometimes, but it wasn’t worth the pay. The tips were nice and I managed to bring home a decent haul at least. That made up for it.

The timing was perfectly thought through. I was able to sort of watch a show, talk to a cute physical trainer and get in an hour of cardio. My mind is weak by now. I let the orthopaedic belt roll to a complete stop before I stepped off to rest. My muscles were sore and sweat had been rolling in small beads from my temples. If I had to guess, my heart rate was in the 180s. Or at least it felt like it had been. Right now, I could use a nice soak in the tub, but I had planned on showering here so I can just easily go home and do what I pleased. “Finished already?” asked a voice behind me. 

I turned to see Raven clutching a medicine ball in her hands. She tossed it to me and I barely managed to keep hold of it.”I saw you talking to that fitness trainer. And you said you weren’t coming here for eye candy.” She scoffed and a laugh bubbled from her throat. That was highly annoying. I felt my brows furrow and with all my might, I tossed the medicine ball back heard it hit Raven in the chest hard. “Knock it off,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m tired. I just want to go home and eat something.” Raven rolled her eyes and bounced the medicine ball off the wall behind me. “We can get a smoothie at the juice bar. I have a discount here.”

Of course she did. Without even arguing, I nodded and obliged to the offer. Maybe another twenty minutes wouldn’t hurt. I could see Lexa again if I was lucky. I followed behind Raven to the juice bar and stood back as I let her order what she liked. My eyes strayed toward the bathroom. Lexa had been in there for some now. Maybe she was just cleaning? After a moment of worry, was handed a large strawberry smoothie with whey protein in it. It wasn’t half bad actually and it went down smooth. Suppose that’s why they call it a smoothie. My eyes spotted Lexa finally. She had been emptying out garbage cans from the bathroom and was pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies. 

“Go talk to her,” encouraged Raven. I felt her little elbow in my side, but there was absolutely no way I could just walk up to her even after we had introduced ourselves. Despite the smoothie going down my throat, I could feel my mouth go suddenly dry. “No way. Even if she was gay she’s out of my league.” We took a seat at a nice, leather couch and I was able to prop my feet up. They were a little sore, but it hadn’t been too awful bad. Exercise still sucked though. I wasn’t going to conform that easily to a bunch of fitness gurus and health snobs. Sorry, Raven. I twirled my straw around, collecting chunks of real strawberry at the bottom of the plastic cup. 

Raven immediately went back to talking about Lexa and I tried to brush off the topic. “Want me to find out for you? I know a guy that works here. He might know her really well.” My eyes widen and I knew Raven was serious when she asked me. “NO!” I waved her suggestion away with a hand and turned my blushing face away. “Oh, hell no. I’ll look foolish if you did.”

With a small sigh, Raven fell back into the couch lazily. “Then you ask her yourself. What is the worst she can say?” For a moment, I pondered that very question and still decided against it. “I told you I wasn’t here for a relationship. I’m done with that for a while. I don’t want to get hurt again.” I look over in Lexa’s direction and I caught her smiling at me when she emptied another trashcan full of used paper towels. “Besides she’s busy. I’ll talk to her another time. I might get a membership though. It seems okay.” Especially with that cutie working here. Lexa alone was a reason to come to the gym. 

Finally, it had been time to take a shower which was rightfully earned and well deserved. I cracked every aching bone in my body when Raven confirmed that we had been there for two hours. Jesus Christ. Two fucking hours? That’s the longest time I’ve EVER been in a gym. There had been a few other moments when I had bumped accidentally into Lexa and I apologized profusely over it. She was very kind and sweet, brushing it away simply with not a single care in the world. Her body was rock solid when I collided with her. I could only imagine what is under that tank top she was wearing that fitted her perfectly. My eyes dropped to Lexa’s abs that had been covered with the shirt material, but I quickly snapped my head up when she was talking to me again. 

Is this how people meet in the real world? I had met Bellamy through a family friend and decided to give it a shot. That had been a mess from hell, plus he was a tad abusive after the first couple years of our so-called relationship. Most relationships start off in the honeymoon phase and you realize you’re falling for that person really hard, but it’s not until you really get to know each other after do relationships ever seem to fall apart. That happens so frequently these days, it was really scary on considering a relationship ever again. Maybe Lexa would be okay with just a friends with benefits type thing? No. That wouldn’t be good either. 

“I have to get going,” I said. Lexa nodded when I looked back to Raven who was standing by the women’s locker room. “It was nice to meet you, Lexa. Maybe we’ll meet again.”

“I hope so,” she said which caused my heart to thump wildly against my chest. Goddamn, those fluttering bats. “It was nice to meet you too, Clarke.” Lexa turned on her heels, giving me a certain look that made me subconsciously sway and breath out a shaky breath that I forgot I had been holding. I turned to Raven who had the biggest shit-eating grin on her face as I shoved past her to the showers. Yup, Raven will never let me live this one down now. “Let’s go idiot.” My tone was very affectionate as I smiled. It had been a couple years since I had even stepped foot into a gym, and it had me thinking that I should have been going a long time ago.


End file.
